Togetherness, acceptance

STOCKTON — Darlene Harris knew she was a lesbian at the age of 8, but she was raised in the Bible Belt, where she didn’t dare to share her sexual orientation.

Harris grew up in Texas. She lived in towns such as McKinney and Paris, where people were not as tolerant as they were in metropolitan cities such as Dallas and Fort Worth, she said.

“Dallas was starting to embrace it and Forth Worth was starting to embrace it, but in a lot of towns you could get hurt if you came out at all,” said Harris, 46, who moved to Stockton in February to study radiology at San Joaquin Delta College.

“If you knew anybody who was gay, you were lucky, because there was a big gay-bashing community. I knew at a young age that I was a lesbian, but to show that in public or even try to approach somebody, it was really hard because you didn’t know who you could trust.”

Harris was one of hundreds who attended the third annual Stockton Pride Festival on Saturday at Oak Grove Regional Park. Those who attended the event enjoyed music, dancing, food, drinks and a series of speakers who voiced their support for the LGBT community.

“There are other cities that do similar things — usually more progressive cities — but I think Stockton is moving forward in that sense,” Stockton City Councilwoman Dyane Burgos Medina said. “We have a really active LGBT community here. A lot of them kind of sparked my interest in politics and local government. I’ve been an ally since the seventh grade, but I really feel like I owe it to that community to make sure they have a voice on our council and in our government.”

Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, also was on hand for the event. He said the Pride Festival is important for the LGBT community.

“They’re bringing people together and making people feel proud of Stockton,” he said. “Something like this lets people come out here and see that they’re not alone.”

Harris knows that feeling, but she said she has been much more open about her sexual orientation since moving to Stockton.

“I’m more outgoing here. I'm more social,” Harris said. “It was like the weight of the world came off of me. I’m able to let people know me instead of hiding the biggest part of me inside and not being able to talk to anybody about it.”

Contact reporter Jason Anderson at (209) 546-8279 or janderson@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/crimeblog and on Twitter @Stockton911.